Hindutva outfit launches campaign to ban Fajr Azan in India

MANGALORE: In a controversial demand that may spark widespread uproar, a less popular Hindutva outfit has called for a strict ban on dawn Azan (Fajr prayer call from Masjids)across India.

Recently, dozens of Hindutva activists including a controversial swamiji, who had earlier tried to commit suicide, staged a protest in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner in Mangalore to pressurize the authorities concerned to strictly impose ban on Azan during early morning.

The protest was held under the banner of Rashtriya Hindu Andolan and some of the protesters were displaying the banner of Hindu Janjagruti Samiti, an extremist Hindutva outfit. The protest comes a day ahead of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion, Sanatan Sanstha activist Vijayalakshmi said that even though India has granted religious freedom for all the people, followers of one religion should not misuse this freedom to disturb the followers of other religions in the society.

Using a derogatory word for Azan, she said that when Muslims shout using loudspeakers every morning they should know that it would disturb sleep of a majority of people in the society.

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti activist Vivek Pai said that the right to sleep peacefully is also comes under the ambit of fundamental rights of every Indian citizen. “The use of loudspeakers should not be permitted from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The supreme court also had directed to impose ban on playing loud music or making any type of noise between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, this ban has not been applied to the early morning Azan,” he said adding that in some places Muslims deliberately cause noise pollution through loudspeakers in the early morning.

He said that those who use loudspeakers for Azan before 6 a.m. in the morning should be arrested and punished.

Rashtriya Hindu Andolan activist Ramesh Nayak said that many Masjids are located in the area of schools, colleges, hostels and hospitals. Loudspeakers used by such Masjids will always cause problems for students and patients, he added.

Japan launches new satellite to survey disasters

TOKYO: Japan successfully launched a new mapping satellite on Saturday that will be used to survey damage from natural disasters and changes affecting rainforests.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) will be able to see scars left by catastrophes such as Japan's 2011 tsunami as well as monitor progress made in reconstruction, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

"The satellite was successfully put in orbit," said an official from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, whose H-IIA rocket was used in the launch from a space centre on the southern island of Tanegashima.

The satellite will provide valuable data for Japan, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences 20 percent of all major earthquakes.

Memories are still fresh of the deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 that unleashed a tsunami that devastated the northern Pacific coast, killing more than 18,000 people and triggering the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The island nation is also routinely hit by typhoons while scientists say Mount Fuji could erupt at any time.

The new satellite, nicknamed "Daichi-2", will "conduct a health check mainly of the Earth's land areas in detail," JAXA project manager Shinichi Suzuki said.

The satellite will collect data related to deformation of the Earth's crust, but also the impact of floods and landslides, he said.

The satellite's predecessor was used to monitor damage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The device uses special radar to observe the planet's surface at night, during bad weather and even through vegetation.

JAXA plans to use the new satellite to regularly study tropical rain forests, which are difficult to observe because of the thick clouds that frequently cover them. It will also be used to observe snow and ice conditions in polar areas, officials said.

Japan launches new satellite to survey disasters

TOKYO: Japan successfully launched a new mapping satellite on Saturday that will be used to survey damage from natural disasters and changes affecting rainforests.

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) will be able to see scars left by catastrophes such as Japan's 2011 tsunami as well as monitor progress made in reconstruction, officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

"The satellite was successfully put in orbit," said an official from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, whose H-IIA rocket was used in the launch from a space centre on the southern island of Tanegashima.

The satellite will provide valuable data for Japan, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences 20 percent of all major earthquakes.

Memories are still fresh of the deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 that unleashed a tsunami that devastated the northern Pacific coast, killing more than 18,000 people and triggering the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The island nation is also routinely hit by typhoons while scientists say Mount Fuji could erupt at any time.

The new satellite, nicknamed "Daichi-2", will "conduct a health check mainly of the Earth's land areas in detail," JAXA project manager Shinichi Suzuki said.

The satellite will collect data related to deformation of the Earth's crust, but also the impact of floods and landslides, he said.

The satellite's predecessor was used to monitor damage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The device uses special radar to observe the planet's surface at night, during bad weather and even through vegetation.

JAXA plans to use the new satellite to regularly study tropical rain forests, which are difficult to observe because of the thick clouds that frequently cover them. It will also be used to observe snow and ice conditions in polar areas, officials said.

Cannes film festival launches race for 2014 Palme d’Or

PARIS: Movies by David Cronenberg, Jean-Luc Godard, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are among the films selected to compete for the top Palme d´Or prize at next month´s Cannes Film Festival, organisers said on Thursday.

Just 18 of the more than 1,700 films submitted have been rewarded with a coveted slot on the Cannes shortlist.

Cronenberg´s "Maps to the Stars", Godard´s "Adieu au Langage", Leigh´s "Mr Turner" and Loach´s "Jimmy´s Hall", which is expected to be his last feature, will all be in competition at the May 14-25 movie extravaganza on the French Riviera.

Out of competition, Hollywood star Ryan Gosling´s directorial debut "Lost River" starring Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks gets a berth in the "Un Certain Regard" new talent section.

Held almost every year since 1946, the festival is famed as much for launching the careers of filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino as for its glitzy red carpet photo calls, luxury yachts, star-studded parties and diamond heists.

Behind the scenes, film industry executives and producers turn the festival into a huge marketplace as they cut deals to secure a share in the next big movie event.

Other films in this year´s competition include "The Homesman" by Tommy Lee Jones, "The Search" by Michel Hazanavicius, "Captives" by Atom Egoyan, "Saint Laurent" by Bertrand Bonello, "Sils Maria" by Olivier Assayas and "Two Days, One Night" by the Dardenne brothers.

From Asia, Japan´s Naomi Kawase makes the cut with "Futatsume No Mado" while Abderrahmane Sissako from Mauritania is included with "Timbuktu".

The 2014 roll call raises the prospect of an abundance of big names on the fabled red carpet such as Robert Pattinson and Julianne Moore ("Maps to the Stars"), Hilary Swank and Meryl Streep ("The Homesman"), Berenice Bejo and Annette Bening ("The Search") and Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart ("Sils Maria").

- ´Pure fiction´ -

Prior to Thursday´s announcement by festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux, only two films had been confirmed for the 12-day festival although neither will be screened in competition.

"Grace of Monaco", starring Nicole Kidman as the former Hollywood star Grace Kelly, will open the festival, while "Party Girl", a French film about an ageing nightclub hostess, will open "Un Certain Regard".

Even before its release, the royal biopic made headlines with the film likely to be boycotted by Grace´s children Prince Albert and Princesses Caroline and Stephanie who have dismissed it as a work of "pure fiction".

Based around the late Prince Rainier, played by British actor Tim Roth, and Grace, who died in a car crash in 1982, it tracks events at a time when France was threatening to annex the tiny principality on its southern coast.

A disagreement between the film´s French director Olivier Dahan and American producer Harvey Weinstein over the editing of the movie, meanwhile, had resulted in what Dahan called "two versions -- mine and his" being made.

But Fremaux on Thursday dampened down speculation stressing that the film being screened in Cannes would be the "only version that exists, the one wanted by the director (Dahan)".

The Cannes festival opens on May 14, with New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion, the only woman to win the Palme d´Or, heading the jury.

Campion who won in 1993 for the "The Piano" also holds the distinction of being the only double winner, her short "Peel" having picked up the top prize in that category in 1986.

The filmmaker has described the festival as a "mythical and exciting" place where "amazing things can happen" adding that she knows this "because that is what happened to me". (AFP)

Syria army launches assault in besieged Homs

DAMASCUS: Syrian troops and pro-regime militiamen fought their way into rebel-held neighbourhoods of the central city of Homs on Tuesday after besieging them for nearly two years.

Meanwhile, rebels elsewhere in the country have received for the first time at least 20 US-made TOW anti-tank missiles from a "Western source", a rebel official said.

The assault on Homs comes a day after the army recaptured the Christian town of Maalula in the strategic Qalamun region and as state media reported the country would soon move into election mode.

It follows a UN operation to evacuate some 1,400 people trapped inside army-besieged neighbourhoods of Homs in February.

Around 1,300 people, mostly fighters, remained behind.

France will table a proposal before the United Nations Security Council authorising the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity in Syria, French ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said Tuesday.

Araud told reporters that France hoped to introduce the resolution in the next few weeks, following a presentation to council members of a gruesome dossier containing thousands of photos showing detainees who had been starved or tortured in prisons run by the Syrian regime.

Any resolution introduced by France is almost certain to be vetoed by Syria´s ally Russia as well as China. Western diplomats, however, say even in the event of a Russian veto, the measure would continue to pile pressure on Damascus while accentuating Russia´s isolation on the council.

Syrian state television reported that the army and the pro-regime militia National Defence Forces (NDF) "have achieved key successes in the Old City of Homs".

Troops were advancing in several neighbourhoods and had "killed a number of terrorists", it said, using the regime´s term for rebels.

Local activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the operation.

A trapped activist, Abu Fehmi, said the army was "bombing very, very intensely".

Britain-based Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said regime forces began the advance a day earlier after NDF forces were deployed to strengthen the regime troops´ presence.

Homs is Syria´s third city and activists have long referred to it as the "capital of the revolution" because of the huge pro-democracy protests held there when the uprising began in March 2011.Most of the central city is now under regime control. Rebel-held pockets have been under a siege for nearly two years, leading to dwindling food and medical supplies.

Microsoft Ventures launches toll-free line for start-ups

Microsoft Ventures, the software major’s global initiative for nurturing entrepreneurship, announced the launch of JumpStart, a hotline that will provide start-ups and entrepreneurs with expert guidance on all things business and technology.

The helpline will be open during business hours Monday to Friday.

The toll free number 1 (800) 200-2114 will be manned by expert professionals trained by the company, the company said.

Joseph Landes, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India, said that JumpStart fills a major gap in the start-up ecosystem.

“Our experience has shown that a major pain point for start-ups across the ecosystem in India, irrespective of their stage of maturity, is the lack of real-time support for various critical queries they face,” he said. For Microsoft, the benefit is that it can learn from these calls and be able to fine tune the Microsoft Ventures program, including the India Accelerator, to make it more impactful for its recipients, the company said.

Srivatsa Krishna, IAS, Secretary, IT, said the service will soon be available through the Karnataka MobileOne Platform, the government’s new mobile governance system.

“By availing this critical support through JumpStart, start-ups will have the opportunity to be heard and have access to informed decision-making support, a critical component in their journey.”

Google launches Streetview 360-degree walkthroughs of Angkor Wat monuments

 

Of late Google has been using this technology of its to bring a lot of monuments across the world to life. (Photo: IE)

Google has made live its 360-degree Streetview project of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. While Streetview is traditionally used to power maps that are rich and three dimensional, of late Google has been using this technology of its to bring a lot of monuments across the world to life.

In Angkor Wat, arguably the largest temple complex in the world, Streetview has been used to patch together over 90,000 high resolution 360-degree images of the monument. Over a hundred temples in the complex are covered in full detail. The project was started in July 2013.

“Streetview is not necessarily about streets. We want it to lead to live, breathing maps that help people explore places,” said Manik Gupta, group product manager for Google Maps.

View the Angkor project here

Google has already created visual walkthroughs of over 100 monuments in India, including the Taj Mahal in Agra. Taj Mahal and Angkor will also be part of the Google Cultural Institute display which gives a comprehensive view of places of interest as well as the top museums in the world. The Angkor collection for instance will also include over 300 pieces of art retrieved from the ruins spread over 400 sq kilometers and often overlooked by the thousands of tourists visiting the Siem Reap where the monuments are located.

Amit Sood, director of the Google Cultural Institute, said the idea behind this project was to make museums more accessible. “The Internet has become a tool for cultural institutions to put their content online for the world to see,” he said, adding that Google’s technology was ensuring that the online experience adds value to the exhibits.

The Angkor Wat project has been undertaken with the help of the Apsara Authority of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Microsoft launches 'Cortana' smartphone assistant

 

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Wednesday took on Apple's Siri and Google Now with a smartphone personal assistant dubbed "Cortana," gleaned from a character in the hit Xbox video game "Halo."

Windows Phone vice president Joe Belfiore introduced Cortana on stage at the technology titan's annual developers conference.

"Cortana is the first truly personal digital assistant who learns about me and the things that matter to me most, and knows about the whole Internet," Belfiore said in a presentation opening the gathering in San Francisco.

Cortana responds to conversationally spoken requests or commands, using insights gleaned from calendars, contact lists, online searches and other smartphone sources to respond in a manner akin to a real-life aide, Belfiore demonstrated.

Cortana's voice and character is based on a popular artificial intelligence character in Microsoft's blockbuster Xbox console video game "Halo."

It comes as a long-awaited counter to the Siri virtual assistant on Apple mobile devices and Google Now capabilities in Android tablets and smartphones.

Cortana will be in a test, or beta, mode when it becomes available in a Windows Phone 8.1 software update to begin rolling out in the United States in coming months.

The new version of Windows Phone 8.1 should be available on new phones beginning in late April or early May, according to Belfiore.

Microsoft met with real-life personal assistants while designing Cortana, which is powered behind the scene by search engine Bing, he said.

As do Siri and Google Now, Cortana can remind users of flights, appointments, birthdays, routes, or other information for managing lives.

"Imagine a real personal assistant, and the kinds of things you might ask to be organized," Belfiore said while extolling Cortana's capabilities.

After being tested in the US, Cortana will expand to Britain and China, and then other countries.

In a sign that Microsoft gave Cortana a playful side, Belfiore asked the virtual assistant to reveal the storyline of the next "Halo" game only to be told "I'm quite certain you don't have the proper security clearance for that information."

 

Pakistan to fish in troubled water, if China launches offensive: IAF

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has dropped a bomb with its alarming admission that it will be difficult for it to tackle a combined threat from China and Pakistan, raising questions about the country's ability to fight a two-front war, said a report published in Hindustan Times.

The IAF has told an Indian Parliamentary panel that Pakistan would certainly fish in troubled waters if China were to launch offensive operations against India.

It, however, stressed that China may not pose "a collusive threat" if hostilities were to break out between India and Pakistan.

Setting off alarm bells, a senior IAF officer informed the Parliamentary standing committee on defence that a "collusive threat" from China and Pakistan would be difficult to tackle but the air force was prepared for it.

"We have made plans in case of contingency-III (two-front war)," he said, adding that India had upgraded its policy against China from dissuasion to deterrence.

The IAF currently operates 34 fighter squadrons, against a desirable 42. In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the panel asked the IAF to scale up its capabilities by speeding up the acquisition of 126 French Rafale fighters, a deal worth Rs. 120,000 crore.

The panel flagged concerns about poor border infrastructure on the Indian side, at a time when China has ramped road, rail and air connectivity across the line of actual control (LAC).

The panel warned that the pace of China's military modernisation and infrastructure development had affected the "strategic balance" between the two countries.

"Our defence forces must develop the capability to fight a multi-front war," the panel said. India is years behind the Chinese military with the neighbour currently outnumbering the country's combat power by a 3:1 ratio. India's hopes to bridge the gap in the next 15 years hinge on availability of funds.

Finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday announced that the defence budget for 2014-15 had been hiked from Rs. 203,672 crore to Rs. 224, 000 crore, a 10% increase over last fiscal's outlay.

However, the meagre increase in the capital expenditure could hit the modernisation plans of the armed forces. The capital outlay has been increased from Rs. 86,740 crore to Rs. 89,587 crore in the interim budget for 2014-15, a hike of barely 3.2%.

China's official, but underreported, defence budget for 2013-14 stands at Rs. 594,000 crore.

 

Pakistan to fish in troubled water, if China launches offensive: IAF

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has dropped a bomb with its alarming admission that it will be difficult for it to tackle a combined threat from China and Pakistan, raising questions about the country's ability to fight a two-front war, said a report published in Hindustan Times.

The IAF has told an Indian Parliamentary panel that Pakistan would certainly fish in troubled waters if China were to launch offensive operations against India.

It, however, stressed that China may not pose "a collusive threat" if hostilities were to break out between India and Pakistan.

Setting off alarm bells, a senior IAF officer informed the Parliamentary standing committee on defence that a "collusive threat" from China and Pakistan would be difficult to tackle but the air force was prepared for it.

"We have made plans in case of contingency-III (two-front war)," he said, adding that India had upgraded its policy against China from dissuasion to deterrence.

The IAF currently operates 34 fighter squadrons, against a desirable 42. In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the panel asked the IAF to scale up its capabilities by speeding up the acquisition of 126 French Rafale fighters, a deal worth Rs. 120,000 crore.

The panel flagged concerns about poor border infrastructure on the Indian side, at a time when China has ramped road, rail and air connectivity across the line of actual control (LAC).

The panel warned that the pace of China's military modernisation and infrastructure development had affected the "strategic balance" between the two countries.

"Our defence forces must develop the capability to fight a multi-front war," the panel said. India is years behind the Chinese military with the neighbour currently outnumbering the country's combat power by a 3:1 ratio. India's hopes to bridge the gap in the next 15 years hinge on availability of funds.

Finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday announced that the defence budget for 2014-15 had been hiked from Rs. 203,672 crore to Rs. 224, 000 crore, a 10% increase over last fiscal's outlay.

However, the meagre increase in the capital expenditure could hit the modernisation plans of the armed forces. The capital outlay has been increased from Rs. 86,740 crore to Rs. 89,587 crore in the interim budget for 2014-15, a hike of barely 3.2%.

China's official, but underreported, defence budget for 2013-14 stands at Rs. 594,000 crore.